Top Saver #1 – Go generic

Buy the cheapest possible option when it comes to these items. I’ll bet your co-workers either won’t notice the difference or won’t mind the difference.

Top Saver #2 – In the bathroom

Do not skimp on toilet paper. Doing so can only leave your entire office unhappy. That is one area where remaining with a quality product will be beneficial to the office. That said, when it comes to drying hands, an electric dryer will be less expensive and less wasteful than constantly restocking your paper towel supply. In the long run it will pay off for your company.

Top Saver #3 – Energy-efficient lighting

Energy-efficient light bulbs last for much, much longer than traditional incandescent light bulbs while also saving energy and providing more light versus traditional bulbs. Energy-efficient lighting will help your air conditioning as well, since incandescent bulbs give off much more heat.

Top Saver #4 – Build a relationship with your supplier

As with anything in business, the key to success is building a relationship that benefits both parties. One way to do that is to explore rewards programs offered by a supplier, as even the smallest discount or reward will help your company do business with your supplier.

Remember, to the office supply companies, you’re the customer they’re looking for. Don’t be afraid to drive a hard bargain with them in order to save off of your own company’s bottom line, especially when it comes to larger or more frequent orders. As a reliable customer, chances are they’ll be willing to move on the price, at least a little bit.

There are many ways to buy smarter for your office and lower your expenses while maintaining quality supplies.

Source: Business Research Guide

One problem: Many of the road signs along the way are now obscured, or difficult to understand.

That’s why now is a great time to take a step back and assess where you are and where you’re going.

The biggest influence to take into account: the role of IT in improving your supply chain performance.

But instead of IT spending, expect pressure to “make do and mend,” experts caution. You’ll be called upon to make the best use of what’s already in place. This means there’ll be little discretionary funding available, but you’ll still need to find some money (perhaps under the couch cushions!).

You’ll still be expected to squeeze a few pennies out of procurement, logistics and distribution functions.

One idea: You might switch over to a pay-per-use technology license, rather than an annual contract.

Three areas experts have targeted as ripe for change:

• Supply chain flow management. In response to pressure to improve lead-time indicators and supplier flexibility, you’ll be expected to work with tech vendors that offer detailed analysis and higher visibility of business functions.
• More efficient inventory management. More supply chain operators will be asking vendors to integrate their tools as part of operations, and might even begin purchasing software services from vendors.
• Production and distribution management. Supply chains will need to ramp up contingencies for a growing number of “what-if” scenarios, to be even better prepared to react quickly when conditions change.

There are three “game-changing” technologies that will have a major impact on supply chain operations in the coming years — or even months, in some cases.

Supply management is an ideal environment for exponential growth in technology, experts advise.

Essentially, we’re looking at a snowball effect: Once it starts rolling, it’ll get bigger and bigger.

Three key areas:

Robots. Don’t worry about The Terminator showing up to unload trucks on your loading dock. But robots that are capable of performing industrial chores are expected to grow from 2 million in 2007 to more than 9 million this year. Some companies are already using them on the warehouse floor.

Robots bring three distinct advantages:

• reduce labor costs
• decrease the cost of customization and on-demand production, and
• change cost considerations in outsourcing.

One warehouse manager offers this testimonial. Among the benefits (there are many more):

For each $20,000 robot his company purchases, it saves about $2 million over its expected lifespan. The robots don’t get tired, don’t make mistakes, don’t complain, don’t need vacations — they work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Computers. They’re getting better, bigger (in function), more efficient, and easier to use. As computers become more affordable, more supply chain operations will have the power to change directions on a dime. Production changes will be less of a hassle and headache, as solutions are easier to come by.

Nanotechnology. Scientists have learned to manipulate the atom, and they’re beginning to create practical applications. The possibilities are boundless. In supply chain operations, nanotechnology could revolutionize RFID applications — or even make them obsolete.

A recent survey of more than 300 supply chain execs revealed some interesting observations:

• Only one in 10 (11%) responded that supply chain planning and execution were handled as a single, joined process.
• More than half (57%) said there was some integration of supply chain planning and supply chain execution, and
• Nearly one in three supply chain managers said there was little if any link between supply chain planning and execution.

You might think that these stats reflect a lack of interest among supply chain managers in integrating planning and execution. Nothing could be further from the truth:

92% of the pros responding to the survey said it was critical to achieve better integration in the next 2 to 3 years.

As today’s business increasingly turns to running lean and just-in-time inventory processes, more companies will be expected to plan well enough to react and then handle even more demanding requests.

The biggest barrier, as is in so many cases, is communication.

That’s where the survey from CSCO (Chief Supply Chain Officer) Insights offers a four-step progression toward achieving optimum communication across departments of any given company.

• Baseline: Poor planning between sales and ops; disconnect between supply chain planning and execution
• Phase I, the Basics: Improved feedback between planning and execution; consolidated view of customer/internal demand; closer link between ops and sales
• Phase II, Real-Time Supply Chain: Real-time visibility; networks designed to react immediately, metrics for making/supporting decisions
• Phase III, Sense & Respond Networks: Multi-level visibility; new organization methods for supply chain planning; looking ahead to new supply chain technologies

A survey of more than 400 supply chain execs by IBM — resulting in a report called “The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future” — ranked topics in this order. Respondents were asked if the topic impacted them to a significant or very significant extent.

• supply chain visibility — 70%
• risk management — 60%
• cost containment — 55%
• increasing customer demands — 55%, and
• globalization — 45%

Execs who were surveyed also remarked that all five topics are critical areas in successful supply chain management.

The IBM study also offered a few specifics.

On the subject of supply chain visibility, the biggest problem is the lack of information sharing and collaborative decision-making. This is not the fault of technology; it’s the way many companies are organized.

Risk management: Supply chains have been stung with more regularity in recent years, from defective products to bankrupt business customers and vendors, natural disaster, and a host of other causes that can take a toll on your efficiency. To get a step ahead of this, it’s become more critical to build risk management into your basic daily functions.

Cost containment: It used to be that supply chains could take a “tortoise” approach in continually improving costs and cost control. But today’s fast-moving economy demands a “hare-like” strategy, reacting daily to whatever cost issues might arise.

Customer demands: Most companies do a great job now of collaborating with your suppliers. It’s time to take that a step further, the experts recommend, and build the same type of relationship with your customers — deploying joint forecasting, for example.

Globalization: It’s not the cure-all and end-all some said it would be. In fact, one-third of the execs responding to the IBM survey said supply costs have actually increased due to global sourcing.  The main issues are product quality and lead times.

That’s the principle behind invoice factoring for small businesses, a trend that’s on the upswing.

Small business is the heart and soul of our economy. More than 99% of U.S. employers — 25.8 million — are small businesses.

With today’s economy, payments are running later than ever. This can greatly harm a company’s ability to take on new customers, and even to secure the most competitive rates from its own suppliers. It also makes it more difficult for these businesses to pay their suppliers on time.

Accounts receivable factoring attempts to build a bridge over this gap for small business financing. The factoring firm provides what is essentially a short-term loan.

When the company’s billing period ends, it re-pays the factor.

There are three steps most accounts receivable will do before initiating a business relationship with a new customer:

• Accept only one invoice for the first transaction, while the factor does due diligence
• Check the credit of the debtor listed on the invoice, and
• Confirm that the sale actually occurred.

The same supply chain tactics that make your company lean and profitable can become your downfall in just the blink of an eye.

That’s because the benefits of the drive to improve efficiency — running lean, just-in-time production, single-source suppliers — can also leave you more vulnerable than ever before.

Fortunately, the best solution is easily summed up in two words: Be prepared.

The fancy term for it is “risk management.” Either way, we’re talking about shooting for the same goal.

1. What could go wrong?

The first step in managing supply chain risk (or being prepared), is to identify and catalog the “what-if” problems that could possibly disrupt your operations.

A few to consider include:

• Shifting customer demand
• Changing financial factors, such as credit availability
• Other market pressures, such as your competitors or your supplier’s competitors, and
• Weather, natural disasters or similar problems (think Hurricane Katrina or the California wildfires, for instance.)

2. Profiling your suppliers

At the same time, you should gather material about your own company (think of it like you’re writing a book) that is critical to supply chain continuity.

This means your company’s operations, including production and fulfillment; and data about your suppliers and your customers.

Try profiling your top suppliers, by identifying:

• Who are your key suppliers
• Where they are located
• Is there another site that could fill in if the primary supplier or supplier site fell short?
• What’s their production capacity, and
• What’s their production flexibility? Can they turn on a dime to help you if you asked?

Today’s emphasis on lean production has left many companies dealing with single-source suppliers, without much of a safety net.

3. What else could go wrong?

There’s the flip side of this coin, too.

Does your company rely heavily on a small but powerful customer base? What would happen if one of those customers closed up shop or took its business elsewhere?

Another contingency to consider: Does your supply chain focus efforts on one primary “ship-from” location? Would you be prepared if a disruption put that area out of commission?

Of course, you’re not going to come up with all of the answers right away.

Risk management is an ongoing process. You can never be prepared enough.

But taking the time now to anticipate problems and plan contingencies could make the difference between success and failure for your company in the future.

That’s because companies need to take a big picture approach to procurement, focusing on more than just price. What’s more important, experts say, is the lowest cost to the organization.

For example, what’s the use of buying the cheapest widget if it has a higher breakage/fault rate than widgets available from other suppliers?

By the time you factor in how much the breakdowns cost you in production, in paperwork, in deductions — it might be worth paying a little more and get a higher-quality product in return.

Your internal costs could outweigh any advantage you think you’re seeing from making procurement decisions based solely on price.

For many supply chain managers, this can be an uphill battle.

First, there’s the pressure to go with the lowest unit price.

Then, there’s the effort and difficulty involved in demonstrating that the lowest unit price is actually increasing operational costs.

It can take a while to document the additional costs, while the purchase price of the “cheap” unit remains front and center.

Finally, there’s the expectations many companies put on procurement/purchasing people to manage costs, right down to the unit level. This means you’ll need time and evidence to make your case for spending a little more.

Remind other managers that this is a time when many organizations are cutting corners, in addition to trimming prices. Some of these companies are cutting so many corners they’re not likely to be around for much longer — which will leave you in a lurch.

Then, you might want to mention the recent (and costly) peanut product recalls, and the resulting bad publicity. Those companies thought they could buy at the best price … and you see what happened.

The cost of distribution center and warehouse space has taken a big tumble, which could translate into savings for you and your company.

A combination of factors have driven down per-foot rental costs by as much as 40% in some cases, managers report. Today’s economy has reduced the need for space, which increased greatly over the past few years as demand rose.

Dropping prices have triggered three different reactions:

• Smaller companies have jumped ship to new quarters when their current lease expires.
• Companies have been able to bargain for lower rates while the lease is still current, and
• Companies that no longer need as much space can consolidate and lease extra space to others.

In some cases, companies have even sold the building they’re in and moved to cozier digs.

There’s also the savings that can come with housing and handling less inventory. Some companies will get used to that and keep conducting business the same way, even after the economy rebounds.

Regardless of your current situation, there’s at least a chance that the cost-saving issue could surface for consideration.

Just when you think the big picture is covered, cyberhoods start poking around the cracks to see if they can pry anything open.

Fortunately, the good guys keep coming up with good ideas to keep you — and your transactions — out of reach for ne’er do-wells.

This time around, there’s a wrinkle: A system that can encrypt cardholder data to protect it between the transaction terminal and the merchant host.

This is just the kind of innovation that businesses accepting magnetic-stripe cards have been hoping for, offering an additional security layer.

The company promoting the innovation bills it as an open standard for merchants and acquirers. It’s not necessary to purchase a proprietary decryption package in order to adopt it, or risk integrating new, unproven encryption technology.

For information, you can contact the company offering the product: Ingenico, at www.ingenico-us.com